Mystery Photos to Identify

Every family has them... unidentified photos. No matter how diligent you are labeling the photos, there are always a few that are missed. Sometimes there are many photos that no one knows who they are.

Photos are a valuable part of a family's history, so it's sad when generations pass and the unlabeled photos mystify the next generation. Sometimes they are just thrown away in frustration. Don't do that. Hold onto those old pictures and maybe someday, someone in the family will identify them.

Here are some photos that puzzle my family. I'll give the possible town names and family names in hope that a distant relative might discover the photos and tell me who they are.

(photo from the family album of unknown men and boys playing croquet in Tyro, Kansas)

Do You Know Their Names?

I'm guessing these are the branch of the Tower family in Oklahoma, but don't really know that.

NEW INFO FROM VALLAIN

March 24, 2013

Pat Ruble just sent me the picture that matches the Tower family children above. Here's what she said about it, "This one is Titled Frank Smith and Ancelin Fiscus children. On the back of the photo though it says Jim Smith so you need to check that with the history also." Still a little confusing.

...and here's my response from March 25, 2013

OK, I've been doing some research on this at our MyFamily site, but there are still questions. We have a studio portrait from 1917 there of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith and Marie (which I've posted below for reference), with a note that Mrs. Smith is Ruthie Ann Fiscus, daughter of Malissa Angeline Tower Fiscus, granddaughter of Abraham Bates Tower. That doesn't match--quite--with Pat Ruble's info from her copy of the photo labeled "Tower Children" that it's the Frank Smith and Ancelin Fiscus children. I don't have any info on Jim Smith--could be that the photo was given to him (often the recipient's name was written on the photo when given as a gift). Take a look at the photo just (below) this one--the one of the two children labeled "Tyro, Kansas"--bet they're the same children! I'll do some more work on this though.

Photo is from Tyro, Kansas

We have three branches of our family that lived in Tyro, Kansas. That means we need to search the Tower line, the McGhee line and the Vining line for the names to these children.

UPDATE March 25, 2013:

Could these be the children of Frank and Ancelin Fiscus Smith? (See detailed information above and related information below.)

Is this photo connected to the "Tower Children" and the "Tyro, Kansas" photos?

This is a photo that is reliably identified, so I'm posting it to compare with the other two photos ("Tower Children" and "Tyro, Kansas" children) because there seems to be a connection (see the comment from vallain below).

Description: Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith and Marie (1917). Mrs. Smith is Ruthie Ann Fiscus, daughter of Melissa (Malissa) Angeline Tower Fiscus, who was one of Abraham Bates Tower's daughters. Malissa was married to Henderson (Henry) Fiscus and they were known within the family as "Uncle Henny and Aunt Lissa." Ruthie Ann was the older sister (2nd child) of Floyd Wilder's mother Daisy Fiscus (8th child). Photo from the collection of the late Melvina (Vina) Tower Vining.

One is my great-aunt Bertha McGhee. She's 3rd from the right on the back row.

UPDATE: Yes, it IS Donald Vining!

Jack Irwin shared this photo with us and identified the young man in the front (2nd from left) as Donald Vining. Can anyone verify that? I believe this photo was taken in Tyro, Kansas.

UPDATE:

Jack Irwin, on his Tyro Facebook page, provided this information: First row, left to right are Victor Pocock, Jr., Kenneth Skinner, Donald Vining and Pete Scott. Jack said he thought Donald Vining was our great-uncle Albert Vining's son.

Since we knew Albert and Vina Vining didn't have any children, this created a new mystery! So my sister Virginia Allain did some rummaging about in the family records that our mother Gail Lee Martin maintained....and discovered that Donald was the oldest son of Luther Vining, one of Albert's older brothers, and lived with Albert and Vina from the age of 13. There was no explanation in Mom's records though.

UPDATE: NOT GRANDMA TOWER!

Our photo is just labeled "Grandma Tower." It doesn't look like photos that we have of Abraham Bates Tower's wife Nancy Angeline (Long) Tower.

Could it be Viola Matilda Tower? I think the photo is older than that.

UPDATE: Yay--our first success story! I had also posted this info on a private family site and got this response from the granddaughter of one of Viola Matilda Tower McGhee's sisters: "This is not a Tower. I found some time ago that this was a Newton. Just don't know which one."

So, yes, a success story--but only partially. We'd still like to find out the name of this Newton ancestor.

Tyro, Kansas

A family photo that is clearly marked with the date and the names of three girls. I know from my mother Gail Martin's stories (Ruth Vining's daughter) that Belle, Ruth and Lucy were sisters, but Mom always shook her head over the goofy young man. "Might be their brother Albert, he was short," but she also speculated that it was a cousin or a friend. It seems as if it were their brother Albert, his name would have been written on the front, too.

In this internet age, there is so much information to help with your genealogy research available at the click of your mouse. Here are a few websites that I found especially useful.

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